Exploration Park Building D

SPACE FLORIDA PRESS RELEASE

Florida Governor Charlie Crist today announced the official groundbreaking for Exploration Park^®, KSC’s next-generation technology and commerce park. Lt. Governor Jeff Kottkamp, local legislative officials and senior leadership from Space Florida and Kennedy Space Center (KSC) gathered on the grounds of NASA’s renowned Space Life Sciences Laboratory (SLSL) – where ISS-bound payloads are prepared for flight – to celebrate the groundbreaking.

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Participants experience microgravity aboard a Zero-G Corporation parabolic flight. (PRNewsFoto/Zero Gravity Corporation, Al Powers)

On July 4, Zero Gravity Corporation’s (ZERO-G) G-FORCE ONE will take off from Dulles International Airport offering flyers a chance to experience independence from the law of gravity. Flyers will have the unique opportunity to float freely in complete weightlessness and celebrate the nation’s birthday on board ZERO-G’s weightless flight. ZERO-G is the first and only FAA-approved provider of commercial weightless flights.

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A rather interesting news item has been posted on the Roscosmos web site via Interfax. It quotes Roscosmos Head Anatoly Perminov as saying the International Space Station partners are awaiting a response from China on an invitation to join the project. The interesting element is why the offer was made: the Russia doesn’t want to be solely responsible for crew transport once the space shuttle retires. “This is rather dangerous, […]

NASA PRESS RELEASE

NASA has selected Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., to launch the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) mission. The spacecraft will fly in February 2013 aboard a Taurus XL 3110 rocket launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

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Asteroid Ida

Russia, Europe may join forces to protect Earth from asteroids
RIA Novosti

Russian space officials and members of the European Commission will meet in early July to discuss joining forces against thousands of potentially hazardous asteroids, the head of the Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos said.

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Ares I-X lifts off from the Cape.

Despite NASA’s efforts to end the Constellation program, things may not be entirely bleak for workers in Huntsville. The Alabama city is experiencing a net growth in defense jobs as a result of decisions made by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission, which was created to consolidate U.S. military bases. The Hunstville Times reports:

The chairman of the Tennessee Valley BRAC Committee said Friday that laid-off NASA Constellation workers will have a “really good” chance of finding jobs in the growing defense industry here.

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India tells US to remove ISRO and DRDO from blacklist
Press Trust of India

India has asked US to remove its two state-run frontline technology establishments ISRO and DRDO from the entities list, in apparent anticipation of Washington and New Delhi opening cooperation in hi-tech systems.

India has also asked American companies to invest in defence sector in the country with the visiting Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma assuring that the major changes in the liberalisation of FDI policy were under debate.

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Japan lab finds trace of gas in deep space asteroid pod
AFP

Japan’s space agency said it had found a trace of gas Thursday in a capsule thought to contain asteroid dust that was brought back to Earth after a multi-billion-kilometre (mile) space journey.

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Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center

NASA PRESS RELEASE

The Task Force on Space Industry Workforce and Economic Development has launched an interactive website to encourage public comment on ways to promote economic growth and sustainability in Florida’s Space Coast region as it adapts to changes in America’s space program.

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Masten's Xoie lunar lander after an attempt at the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. There was damage to the lander from a fire.

Masten Space Systems will receive the Space Frontier Foundation’s 2010 “Vision to Reality” Award in recognition of the company winning the 2009 Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge last year. SFF will present the award to the Mojave, Calif.-based company during a gala dinner at the NewSpace 2010 Conference in Sunnyvale, Calif. from July 23-25.

“Masten’s flight was the culmination of a close race for the prize between them and Armadillo Aerospace, and we expect to see both companies doing great things in the future,” said SFF Chairman Bob Werb. “Masten’s precision lunar flight demonstration shows we can do amazing things at low cost outside of the government, do them quickly, and do them right.”

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NASA's Orion spacecraft

A bipartisan group of 62 House members from 18 states have sent a letter to President Obama calling for an immediate effort to develop a heavy-lift vehicle and the full build out of the Orion spacecraft:

We support the immediate development and production of a heavy-lift launch vehicle that, in conjunction with the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle, may be used for either lunar or deep-space exploration to an asteroid and beyond, as you said in Florida.

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The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Fallback Position – Astronaut Pt. 2 www.colbertnation.com Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Fox News The second part of Stephen Colbert’s astronaut training at JSC in Houston.